Jeokdeokdo

A couple of weekends ago we set off to do some offshore exploring among the islands in the West Sea, off the (air)port city of Incheon, where Linda lives. The most famous of these is probably Yeonpyeong-do, up in the north, which was the scene of a North Korean attack last year when we all got a little nervous. We eschewed this option in favour of the more southerly Jeokdeokdo, safely out of North Korean artillery range, but more importantly with nicer beaches.

We took an early ferry out of Incheon port, which at 44,000 won seemed rather expensive, but given that it worked out to 30 pounds return for an hour trip, probably just points to the fact that transport here is usually ridiculously cheap. This gave us the chance to have a look at the new Incheon airport bridge, which really is impressive. As you can see below, it's pretty long and must have been incredibly expensive. No wonder the Korean Highways Agency is tricking people into using it.

We get off the ferry and hang around in the port town for an hour or so, getting a coffee while we waited for a bus. This duly arrived, and we set off for the beach with about 30 other people. At the beach, everyone gets off the bus, and disappears. Linda and I are the only people on a 1km long stretch of beach. We're not really that sure where everyone went, but we assume it was to the pensions (houses you can rent for the weekend) up in the village. Wherever they went, it seems that these Korean people were not big beach goers.

The beach itself was really nice, a long stretch of sand, which turned into mud flats before the sea. There were many of the shells below around, which proved surprisingly mobile. The flats were also inhabited by lots of small fish, and huge crabs like the one below.

OK, so maybe not so huge, but interesting to look at at least. We also went for a paddle, and then just hung out on the beach. I wrote lovey messages to "Rinda" in Korean, and then we went off to get some Kalguksu for lunch. This turned out to be incredibly tasty, so much so that I forgot to photograph it.

After that, it was almost time to go home again, after having a quick beer in the park. There was time while waiting for the ferry to take a photo that shows what a nice day Linda had, and how much I hate photos.

I've just realised that this is a quite horrifically boring blog post. If you get this far I apologise. I will try to write something a little more exciting.

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Reassuring Words

Most of you will be aware that last Tuesday North Korea fired "dozens" of artillery shells at Yeonpyeong island, a South Korean territory close to the disputed maritime border between the two states. The barrage killed two soldiers and two civilians on this island, and the political repercussions are still echoing between the two Koreas, America and China. What you might be wondering is whether this means that I will be coming home rather earlier than I previously stated. Well, the short answer is no, not unless things get a lot worse, and the aim of this post is to give some of the reasons why I believe they won't.

Firstly, and most tellingly, no-one that I am acquainted with in Korea is really worried about this. South Koreans are used to this behaviour from their neighbour, sadly. Back in March, the Cheonan was sunk (allegedly) by North Korea, killing 47 sailors. This from a country which has also blown up airliners, murdered defectors on South Korean soil, and generally behaved with the lowest standards of decency or regard for human life, yet the truce (technically the two Koreas are still at war) still holds. By all accounts there is more public outrage here than with previous incidents, but most of my colleagues at school simply dismissed the incident with a sad shrug. Nobody here wants to go (back) to war, and I suspect that if it came to a vote there would be little appetite for conflict.

Secondly, from my understanding of the political situation, none of the interested parties (with perhaps the exception of Japan) stands to gain from a war. Let's deal with the South first: a war would be hugely costly to the South. While in terms of hardware and technology South Korea is way ahead, and has the support of the US who would step in to help, a war would be unlikely to end quickly, and certainly not before Seoul had suffered major damage. Following the almost inevitable victory, South Korea would then have to deal with the remaining North Korean population. People here always tell you they are in favour of reunification, but would the South really want to take on 23 million starving, poorly educated and possibly brainwashed citizens. I've read a little of the difficulties that North Korean defectors have to adapting to life in the South. This would be the same but on a huge (and hugely expensive) scale. The war and the aftermath would cost trillions of dollars, with neither the South or the USA keen to pick up the bill.

China certainly doesn't want a war. I don't think they would actively fight against the USA (though they may provide other support for NK), and if they do the conflict would quickly escalate into a global conflict, and we're all for it. However, if they leave North Korea to lose, then they invite US troops on to their doorstep, which they couldn't countenance.

The biggest loser from a war though, is Kim Jong-Il. Whatever doubts you may have over his sanity and humanity, what is surely not in doubt is his ego and his sense of self-preservation. If he starts a war he is signing death warrants for himself and his political dynasty. The Kim regime will not start a war that it is almost guaranteed to lose. It does however benefit is from instability. The threat of conflict can be used as leverage to clamp down further on dissident elements who are a threat to the transfer of power currently taking place, and also to force more food and energy aid from the South and China, which the country needs more desperately than ever.

I, and most people I have spoken to, seem to feel that a normal course of action will follow. Korea and the US will put on a show of military strength, the North will make some threats, everyone will find a way to back down without losing any face, and more aid trucks will cross the border for a while. Things will go back to normal, I'll get hopeful when my won creeps up in value, and then they'll do it again. At this point, my colleagues will once again shrug and say "Mr Kim. He is crazy."

So don't worry about me. If things look bad I'll come home, but for now life here is far to good to think about quitting for the sake of an infinitesimal possibility of war.

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